THREE BORDERS FEDERATION FOCUS

with Keith Mott

FEBRUARY MEETING

The Federation held it’s February meeting at the University Vandals Rugby Club recently and the turn out of club delegates was very good, with Tony Dann chairing the proceedings. The Federation President, John Keywood, sent his apologies for not attending, but was unwell. The secretary, Bryan Poulton, read out the minutes and reported that the recent Prize Presentation at Hersham British Legion was it’s usual success and showed a profit of £160. There was a vote of thanks to Mick Honeyball for his £200 sponsorship for the 2006 season.

The S.M.T. Combine delegates gave a report of the recent meeting and said that the South Coast Federation and London Federation had resigned from the Combine. The telephone lib-line had shown a £152 profit for the Combine for the 2005 season. In the 2006 season the first ten in every race will receive diplomas and at the end of the season a diploma book will be produced, showing the first 50 positions in every race. It was very sad to hear the news that Allen Palmer of Esher had stood down as Combine secretary at the recent A.G.M., but the good news is, his replacement is Angela Fox of Hare Hill and she has over 20 years experience of pigeon club secretarial work.

The annual breeder / buyer auction sale will be held on Thursday 6th. April, at the Hersham Royal British Legion Club and will be run on the same lines as in previous years, with the first £500 being used as birdage discount for the club in 2006 racing. Every club must donate at least four youngsters to qualify for the 50p per crate discount for this season. The remainder of the proceeds from the sale will be for breeder/ buyer prizes, to be won on the young bird Yelverton race and the pay out last season was excellent. Members can donate two birds, the first to be bided for in the normal manner and then the member can purchase the second bird for £10, to have a go for a prize. The fancier who wins the bid on the first youngster gets the pick of the two birds.

The R.P.R.A. delegates gave their reports on recent Region meetings and informed the meeting that the new ‘press on’ seals were for crates only and not to be used on clocks. The London and Southern Regions have both voted in favour of E.T.S. I was sad to here that my aunty, Beat Penn of Brentford, had stood down as secretary of the London Region, she has put in a life time of excellent service to our sport. She is a legend of pigeon administration in the London area and I love her!

In view of the recent ‘bird flu’ restrictions on racing from France, there was a lot of discussion on where to race from this season. The new race programme is listed below, but if the restriction is lifted on 31st. May, the Combine programme for the rest of the season will be: 10th. June – Messac: 24th. June – Messac: 14th. July – Bergerac.     

OLD BIRD:

8th. April – Wincanton: 15th. April – Lulworth: 22nd. April – West Bay: 29th. April – Kingsdown: 6th. May – Exeter: 13th. May – Yelverton (SMT Combine): 20th. May – Taunton: 27th. May – Wadebridge (SMT Combine): 3rd. June – Exeter: 10th. June – Sennon Cove (SMT Combine): 17th. June – Taunton: 24th. June – Wadebridge (SMT Combine): 1st. July – Kingsdown: 8th. July – Exeter: 14th. July – Sennon Cove (SMT Combine).

YOUNG BIRD:

5th. August – Blandford: 12th. August – Lulworth: 19th. August – West Bay: 26th. August – Lulworth: 2nd. September – Kingsdown: 9th. September – Exeter: 16th. September – Yelverton (SMT Combine). This programme could change with any developments with the ‘bird flu’ problem.

Any Three Borders Federation news, please give me a ring on 01372 463480.

TEXT & PHOTO BY KEITH MOTT.